


Laughter is the Best Medicine

by lookatthestarrynight



Series: Laughter is the Best Medicine [1]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Poe Dameron/Doctor!OC, Pre-TFA, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:27:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23428471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lookatthestarrynight/pseuds/lookatthestarrynight
Summary: Poe Dameron has just joined the Resistance at the request of General Leia Organa, and he's finally arrived on the Echo of Hope, the Resistance's floating base of operations. While on board, he meets the Medical Director of the Resistance and... falls in love? We'll see.[ON HIATUS UNTIL ME, THE AUTHOR, CAN GET OVER HER WRITERS BLOCK, SORRY]
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Original Character(s), Poe Dameron/Original Female Character(s), Poe Dameron/Reader, Poe Dameron/You
Series: Laughter is the Best Medicine [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1701208
Comments: 5
Kudos: 40





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, there! Fair warning - this is the first time I'm writing/posting anything for AO3, so hopefully I've got it all right. Updates might be slow because I've got other things happening at the same time, buuut, I've got a pretty good idea of how this story is gonna play out already, so I promise it gets better. Good things up ahead! Also - thank you so much for reading! :)

As was customary with the arrival of new recruits to the _Echo of Hope_ , the higher-ranking members of the Resistance stood in the hangar bay to greet them. And because of that, I found myself standing next to General Organa. Today, there were only three new recruits, but their arrival was coming on a wave of general adoration from most members of the Resistance – after all, it was Commander Poe Dameron and his fellow members of the New Republic’s Rapier Squadron: Lieutenant Karé Kun and Lieutenant Iolo Arana.

As they stepped out of the freighter that brought them to the _Echo of Hope_ , the members of the Resistance in the hangar whooped and hollered their approval. The new arrivals seemed to be a bit shocked at the boisterous welcome and Dameron was the only one who warmed up to it – he was waving to the gathered crowd with a glittering smile – as they walked toward the General, myself, and a few other officers.

Dameron stopped in front of the General and tipped his head in respect. “General.”

“Commander. Glad to see you made the journey safely. Lieutenants Kun, Arana, welcome aboard.” The General reached forward with a warm smile and shook each of the new arrivals’ hands. Then she stepped to the side and gestured down the small line of officers. “Allow me to introduce you to Resistance command.”

First up, there was me. “This is Doctor Hera Nova. She’s the Head of Medical on the _Echo of Hope_ , and the Director of Medical for the Resistance. I’d even venture to say she’s one of the best in her field in the galaxy.” The General said, patting me on the shoulder.

I flushed, flattered, “Thank you, General.” I turned my gaze fully to the new recruits, “Commander, Lieutenants, it’s wonderful to have you on board. I’ve heard quite a lot about you.”

“All good things, I hope.” Dameron’s eyes twinkled as he shook my hand.

I smiled at him and shook the hands of Arana and Kun. “Mostly.”

Next in line for introductions was the Commander of the ground forces, and then two Admirals, a Vice Admiral, and another General, and then the introductions were finally done – who knew polite greetings took so long? The General turned from the last officer in the line and called out to me, “Director! Could you take our newest members to the med-bay for their physicals?”

I nodded, walking towards them. “Of course, General,” I turned to the pilots, motioning to the closest hangar exit, “Follow me, please.” I turned toward the walkway, not really waiting for them to follow.

As we left the hangar, Dameron jogged to catch up with me. “How’d you become to be the Director of Medical? You, uh, seem younger than the rest of command.”

I glanced at him and quirked my eyebrows. “Are you questioning my abilities, Commander?” I asked teasingly.

“Oh, no, no no, Director, I was just curious.” He hastily replied, a hint of a blush on his cheeks.

I nodded. “It’s fine… I joined the Resistance about two years ago and I was working under Dr. Pitters, the previous Director, as an apprentice of sorts,” I paused as we rounded a corner, “And, uh, about a year ago, he was on a quick visit to his home world and disappeared.”

We rounded yet another corner and the med-bay came into view. I stopped short of the entrance and turned to properly face Dameron and the pilots. “The General thinks the First Order might have had him assassinated for working with the Resistance; he used to be Imperial,” I paused, and gestured to the med-bay entrance, “I won’t be handling your physicals since we’re due to have a squadron coming in pretty soon – I’ve been asked to assist with one of the pilots – but one of the nurses right inside will be more than happy to help.”

“Thank you, Director,” Kun piped up, nodding to me and stepping inside. She was quickly followed by Arana, and I turned to Dameron expectantly.

“Thank you, and I’m sorry to hear about the doctor,” he said.

I smiled and nodded, looking down. “It happens.”

“But it shouldn’t.”

I looked up at Poe. There was a little fire of furious determination burning behind his eyes that hadn’t been there minutes earlier. I nodded. “I’d better get ready for my patient… I’ll see you around, Commander.”

“Same to you, Director.”


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens... Thank you for reading; hope you enjoy! :)

I didn’t see the Commander again for a few months – as soon as he was cleared for duty, the General put him (and his fellow pilots) straight to work. A week ago, he’d returned from Operation Sabre Strike, and then not even a few days later he was back out – for a mission to some swamp planet that most of the officers couldn’t seem to pronounce. In fact, he was due back from that mission in less than a few standard hours, and I’d been informed to be ready for anything. If I knew what planet he’d gone to, I could’ve done some research to better my treatment of any fauna-inflicted wounds – as I’d been told there’d been a few worrisome run-ins – but alas, no one told me anything.

As if I’d spoken his arrival into existence, a nurse stuck her head in my small office – “Dameron’s coming out of hyperspace now, the General wants you on deck.” I nodded, tossing my paperwork back on the desk – I’d do it later, surely – grabbed my med-bag and two nurses, and made quick time to the hangars.

I arrived at the same time the _Black One_ came screaming into the hangar bay, landing just a bit rougher than I’m sure his usual would be. The ship powered down as techs rushed to help the Commander out of the cockpit, and when I finally got a glimpse of him through the crowd, I could see why he’d come in so hot – he had a rather nasty abdominal wound blooming.

I huffed, and rushed to the edge of the fray, my assistants behind me. “Medical coming through! Please step away!” The crowd parted just enough for us to squeeze through, and I got to the Commander just as he seemed to be losing touch with reality – and so, when he passed out all but a second later, he fell straight into my waiting arms as I called for a stretcher. I lowered him to the hangar floor, undoing his flight suit and cutting his undershirt away from the wound. It had been rather clumsily bandaged once already, but the action of getting out of the ship seemed to have undone anything good it might have done.

The wound wasn’t deep, and it looked like all it would need were some heavy-duty stitches and bacta patches, but I’d need my med-bay to make that happen. A stretcher arrived as I was packing the wound to stop the bleeding, and the Commander was gently placed on it and taken to the med-bay, his droid – and half the Resistance – on our heels.

<>

An hour and a half later, I was pulling off my gloves and tossing them in the compactor bin, my job done. I sank into the visitor’s chair in Dameron’s med-bay room for a moment, as two nurses cleaned up my materials and disposed of anything remotely hazardous in the compactor bins.

I glanced down at the small orange-and-white droid that sat on the floor next to me, nervously rolling backwards and forwards. I huffed. “He’ll be alright, BB. I’m not the Medical Director for no reason.”

BB-8 beeped anxiously anyways.

“He’ll be fine, BB,” I paused, standing up, “How about I move this chair closer to his bed, and you can sit yourself in it, yeah?”

BB-8 paused his rolling and beeped at me once more.

“Okay, _I’ll_ put you in the chair and you can watch him, alright?” I carefully moved the chair closer to the Commander’s bedside before turning to the droid. “Make yourself light, alright buddy?”

BB-8 beeped indignantly as I hefted him into the chair.

“No need for unkind words, BB, I was just teasing,” I put my hands on my hips and took a step back towards the door, “I’ll have one of the nurses set up a charging situation for you, okay? The Commander will be up by morning, and I’ll swing by to check on him then.”

BB-8 beeped once more as my hand reached the door handle.

“Fine, _Poe_ will be up by morning, and I’ll swing by to check on _both of you_ then. Better?”

The droid beeped a quiet affirmation and turned back to his master.

I huffed a laugh and gently pushed the door open, stepping out into the med-bay hall – and right into the General.

“General! I’m sorry, I didn’t, uh, see you there.”

She laughed. “I wouldn’t have expected you to. How’s the Commander?”

“He’s alright, a little worse for the wear, but he should be back to the daily grind in two or so weeks. He’s got a pretty, uh, dedicated little droid in there.”

“That he does. Two weeks, though? I think that might kill him.”

I laughed. “It shouldn’t. A little rest never hurt anybody.”

“You’d think that with all the missions I’ve sent him on, he’d want some rest, but…” the General shrugged, “May I?” She gestured to the door.

“Of course, just make sure you don’t mess with his little guardian spirit’s perch. Took some negotiating to make BB happy.”

The General laughed once more. “I’ll keep that in mind.” And with that, she was through the door.

I sighed. Back to paperwork and holofiles I go.

<>

The next morning, I arrived in the med-bay a little earlier than I usually would to check on my latest patient and his steadfast droid. I waved to the nurses still on their shifts, turning to the one closest to me, “Is the Commander up yet?”

“Yes, ma’am. Woke up about an hour ago – his vitals are fine. He should be ready for his next painkiller dose and bandage change right now, if you’d like me to get everything ready for that.”

“Yes, that would be very helpful. Thank you, Shana!” I said as I reached Dameron’s door and pushed on the handle. She huffed a laugh and disappeared into the supply room. I stuck my head in the door before I came in, waving to BB-8 as he trilled from his perch in the guest’s chair.

“Hello, BB… did you have a good night?”

The droid beeped happily, rolling slightly in his chair.

I laughed, carefully closing the door and approaching the bed where the Commander laid, eyes closed.

“You don’t have a resting heart-beat, Commander, so there’s no need to fake sleep on my account.”

The Commander sighed, opening his eyes to look at me. “It was worth a try.”

I smiled, “Well, I’ll praise the effort then.”

It was then that Shana arrived in the room with the supplies I needed. “Will you need any help, Director?”

“Nah, I think I will be alright, Shana. Thank you for asking though,” I paused, turning to her, “Why don’t you head back to your room early?”

“Oh, no, I’ve only got an hour left, might as well stay.”

“I insist,” I made a shooing motion with my hands, “Doctor’s orders.”

She chuckled, nodding reluctantly and leaving the room, “I’ll just be going then, have a good day, Director.”

“Likewise, Shana.” I turned back to my patient, noting his slightly bewildered look.

“What’s the look for, Commander?”

“Oh, it’s nothing… I guess I’m just surprised you let her off early.”

I nodded, pulling on my gloves. “I do that sometimes… I consider everyone who works in medical to be a friend, so I treat them as such.”

“Reminds me of the fleet, but we treat each other more like family.” The pilot responded.

“Mm-hmm.” I reached over to the IV line, adjusting a few switches to give the Commander his next painkiller dose. I turned to him, “I’m going to need you to push your shirt up a bit so I can check your wound, is that alight?”

Dameron grinned, doing as I said, “Totally fine, Doc.”

I reached forward, pulling up the bandages and bacta patches from the day before and tossing them in the compactor bin.

“This might sting a bit, so apologies ahead of time, Commander.” I gently applied some ointment to the wound, grimacing as the Commander winced. Slowly, I applied the bacta patches and bandages, gently tapping above the wound when I finished, “All better.”

The Commander chuckled, and then winced again, “Thanks.”

“Yeah, I might avoid laughing for a bit, with your wound placement and all.”

“So I’ve discovered.”

I looked up at BB-8 as I pulled off my gloves and cleaned everything up, “Will you need help getting down from there?”

He beeped a quiet affirmative, and I walked to the side of the bed the chair was on, picking him up and putting him on the ground with a grunt.

“So, you’re the one who put him up there?” Dameron asked, intrigued.

I laughed, “Yeah – he was worried about you, so I figured he’d want a nice place to spend the night watching you.”

“Well, thank you, then.” Dameron said with a grin, and BB-8 chimed a little thank you as well.

Turning to look at them from the door, I smiled, “Not a problem, Commander. BB-8, just –”

“Call me Poe, please.”

“What?”

“Just call me Poe.” The Commander looked at me, slightly imploring.

“Alright then, _Poe_. BB-8, just let one of the staff know if you need something – same goes for you, Comma– Poe.” They both nodded, Dameron with a satisfied smirk on his face, and I stepped out of the door and into the hall.

“On second thought,” I stuck my head back in the room, “Call me Hera. Not any of that other stuff – and we’re even.”

“Hera. Right, okay, I can do that.”

I waved, and then stepped back into the hall, closing the door quietly behind me. I shouldn’t have liked how my name sounded when he said it – but I did.


	3. Chapter Two

As it turned out, Poe Dameron became the bane of the med-bay’s existence in a matter of a few days. He couldn’t sit still, he had a constant stream of visitors, and he refused to take his meds – I think that was an ego thing. He was a thorn in my side, a constant headache that I handed off to my nurses at every chance, and yet, I found myself back in his room for the umpteenth time in two weeks – on a mission to make him stay still so he didn’t ruin all my hard work. And maybe also to talk about mundane things, but mostly to save my hard work.

“Back again so soon?” Poe said with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Yes, I’m back again. You’re terrorizing my med-bay, Dameron, and I don’t appreciate it one bit!”

“Terrorizing? I hardly think I’m doing a single thing.”

I snorted, flopping into the visitor’s chair next to his bed. “Terrorizing, oh yes! You complained about the food – even though it’s the same stuff in the cafeteria a level below. You wouldn’t led Shana give you your dose of meds last night, or the night before – in fact, I heard that you pulled the IV line _out of your arm_ this morning, and poor Ilia had to put it back in without me. Not to mention the three escape attempts you’ve made in the past four days – hardly doing a single thing, _my ass_.”

Dameron just stared at me, a comedic glint in his eyes.

“And don’t even get me started on last week – you nearly ripped your stitches twice, once because you tried to pick BB-8 up from your spot in bed and then _again_ because you wanted to take a jaunt around the ship! And the visitors – _stars_ – who knew so many people liked you?! We’ve had to tell everyone, _everyone_ , that the only people allowed to see you now are high-ranking members of the Resistance and the pilots in your squadron, and people still waltz up here at all hours to try and say hello!” I laid my head on the chair back, groaning at the ceiling – but not for long:

“Why are you _laughing_?!”

“I’m sorry, I just –” Poe leaned forward, his whole body shaking now, “You’re so fired up about this, and half of it’s not even my fault.”

“ _Not your_ – oh my stars.”

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about ‘terrorizing your med-bay’ as you so eloquently put it. And it’s not my fault people like me so much – I can’t help but be irresistibly charming all the time – it’s my nature.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “I’ll accept your apology Commander, but you’ve got to stop trying to leave, please.” I sighed, running my hand through my hair, “It’s no good for your stitches or my sanity.”

Poe chuckled. “I’ll try my best. And my name’s Poe, not Commander.”

“Thanks for the effort, _Commander_.”

“Ohhh, I see how it is.”

I grinned, despite the great distaste I possessed for him in this particular moment, “I sure hope you see how it is.”

He laughed again, “You’re pretty good company when you’re not yelling at me, you know that right?”

I snorted, sitting up in the chair a bit. “When am I ever not yelling at you? I feel like that’s all I ever do these days, since you’re so, so, so eager to escape.”

“Nah, I just want to talk to you.”

I looked up at him, his eyes shimmering with something I’d only seen a few times before from him – mostly when I was good-naturedly chastising him for trying to escape the med-bay before his time. “You could just send me a comm message, or buzz me in here, you know, like a normal person.”

“But that’s half the fun – driving you mad is my only entertainment in here.”

“Woooow. Do none of your other guests bring you such joy?”

“No, they’re all business – The General has missions to talk about, Kun and Arana have complaints to lodge, Wexley, too. It’s all very mundane.”

“Hmph. Sounds like a load of bantha-shit to me, but I’ll take it.”

There was a lull in the conversation, and then the door to the room opened and the General walked in.

“Hello, General!” I said, scrambling out of my chair, “I wasn’t expecting you to come in so early.”

“I’m leaving for a quick diplomatic mission in an hour – I wanted to make sure my best pilot would be on his best behavior in my absence.” The General gave Poe a pointed look.

“Of course, ma’am, I don’t even know why you’d question my behavior.”

The General laughed, “Good to hear, then,” she turned to me, “Will you be able to handle him for a few more days without me around?”

“Yes, of course, General. He definitely hasn’t been keeping me inordinately busy for the past two weeks.” I delivered a sharp glare to the Commander, and he smiled innocently.

General Organa chuckled, “Well, I’m glad you’re getting along then. I’m going to head out now – I’ll see you both again soon, I’m sure.” And with that, she was back out the door.

I rounded on Poe. “Well, that wasn’t a mission she wanted to talk to you about.” I said pointedly.

He snorted, laying back down into the bed, “You weren’t supposed to take that word-for-word, Hera.”

“I wasn’t? Damn.” He laughed again as I slowly made my way back to the door. “Don’t rip those stitches once I leave, please. If you do, you’ll be here even longer.”

“You wouldn’t!”

I smirked at him. “Ohh, yes I would, Poe.”

He huffed, feigning dejection, and sank into his pillows once more. I opened the door and stepped out.

“You’ve only got two more days left in here! Don’t blow it.” I called over my shoulder.

“Two days of torture! Two whole days!” he lamented as the door closed.

I smiled and started walking to my next patient’s room. Maybe he wouldn’t try to escape today.

I was wrong.


	4. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm gonna say I'm open to requests now - you can check my bio to see what I will write for - so you can either let me know through here or through Tumblr (https://lookatthestarrynight.tumblr.com/). Anyways: have a good day, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

After Dameron left the med-bay – a thing many of the nurses, doctors, and myself were glad to see happen – I went back to regular life on the _Echo of Hope_. No more running around tracking down a runaway pilot, no more hair pulling over missed meds and potentially pulled stitches (which had happened on his last escapade – and he didn’t try again after that). None of that. Instead, I was back to waffling over paperwork and monitoring physicals on most days, and a surgery or two on other days. For a good few weeks, nothing seemed to be happening, and then the General announced we’d be moving permanently into the Resistance’s planetary base: D’Qar.

And then all my good routines and restful nights went out the airlock. Again. Luckily, though, the task of getting the med-bay on D’Qar operational was a priority, so in the matter of a week I was moved into my new quarters – a pinch larger and a whole lot warmer than the one I’d had on the _Echo of Hope_ – down the hall from the med-bay, and all of the offices, patient rooms, and surgery rooms were up-and-running. Now, beyond my regular obligations to the med-bay and the Command Center, I had a bit of free time on my hands – there were fewer dangerous missions off-world right now because so many people were being devoted to moving and security.

And with that free time, I made myself a whole new temporary schedule (at this point, it was temporary schedule number three of many). I’d wake up in the mornings, get ready, get breakfast, and stick my head in the med-bay to see if they needed anything. Then, I’d wander off the base – with my commlink in hand, just in case someone dropped a heavy box on their foot or something idiotic like that – and explore the forests that surrounded the base. I’d come back for lunch, although I’ve forgotten to do that once or twice already, and then I spend the rest of my day in the med-bay helping with existing patients and any new arrivals. Then: dinner with Ilia, Shana, and my newest acquaintance, a mechanic named Nira. And then back to the med-bay, to my office, to file paperwork in the holonetwork and send notes to the Command Center. There had been a few days already where’d I’d been dragged from my newfound temporary routine to attend meetings in the Command Center. In these lovely, but terribly boring, meetings, I often found myself next to Poe Dameron at the big roundtable – which he found to be incredibly entertaining. In fact, the first time I was called to a meeting and he realized who his table buddy was, he’d slung his arm around my shoulder and loudly announced:

“Well, I’m glad I get to be next to my favorite Medical Director – she saved my life after all!”

To which I’d snorted and haughtily replied: “And I’m sure I could just as easily un-save it, too, Commander.” The Command Center had gotten a rather big laugh out of Dameron’s feigned betrayal – wherein he yanked his arm off of me, spun me to face him, and opened and closed his mouth in surprise and then said “Well, I never—!” (which made everyone laugh _just_ a bit harder).

I didn’t mind going to meetings, but it was nice when I could leave the meeting and run off into the forest for what I viewed as a much-needed break. There was a little path that led from the tarmac of the landing zones and hangar to a little stream and clearing that was quiet and devoid of any real activity. I’d taken to bringing my holopad and a snack from the cafeteria with me as week two of the Resistance relocation wore on.

Today, I’d had another one of those lovely Command Center meetings, and the instant it was over, I’d made straight for my hideaway, but Dameron caught up to me on my way through the hangar.

“Hey! Hera!”

I stopped, frowning, and turned towards him, “Yeah?”

He walked the last few feet between us and stopped a bit before me, “Where are you—” he paused, catching his breath, “Where are you rushing off to?”

“I’m ‘rushing’, as you say, down that path right over there,” I said, gesturing vaguely to the tree line, “And – am I mistaken in seeing that the ‘Resistance’s Best Pilot’ is _out of breath_?”

He made a face. “You walk fast, okay? And one of the Admirals wanted to have a word with me – Stavon, the one who talks agonizingly slow – so I had to run to catch up with you. That’s beside the point though – that forest could be dangerous; you don’t know what’s in there!”

“I’m not dead yet, and I’ve been going down there the whole week,” I reached up a hand to shush him, “And before you say anything, I’m well-versed in the art of self-defense, alright? No need to worry.”

“I can’t help but worry about you, Hera.”

I stared at him. “I’m going to take that as a compliment, I think.” I whirled around and continued towards the path, stopping a few meters from the tree line and turning back to Poe, “You want to join me? Then you can see for yourself that I am in no danger whatsoever.”

Poe gave me a funny look, glanced back at the hangar, shrugged, and caught up to me. For the first half of the walk, he was very quiet, but once we reached what I estimated to be the half-way point – about five minutes in – he piped up:

“So, where are we going, exactly?”

“There’s a little clearing with a stream down this path. I’ve been, uh, coming here for the last week or so, just to clear my head in the mornings.”

He nodded, swinging his arms a little exaggeratedly for a moment.

“I think you’ll like it… it can be our little secret.” I said, glancing up at him.

“Our little secret, eh? That sounds like a lot more than just a little clearing to me,” he teased, smiling.

I flushed, “Not – not that. You know what I mean.”

“Do I?”

I stopped and looked at him. “Oh, come on. You know what I meant, Dameron.”

He laughed, looping his arm around my shoulders and guiding us further down the path. “I know what you meant; I was just teasing.”

I huffed. “Nearly gave me a heart-attack, thinking I’d have to, like, talk my way out of that one.”

He grinned. “I’m a little smarter than you give me credit for, I think.”

“Yeah… you probably are.”

It was then that we came upon the clearing and Poe stepped away from me, slowly spinning around as he took it all in, amazed.

“Pretty great, huh?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest with a smile.

He turned back to me, his eyes shimmering with that look again. “Yeah, pretty great.”

Quietly, I walked to the edge of the stream and sat down on one of the larger rocks, and Poe joined me a few seconds later. We sat in silence for a while, taking in the beauty of the clearing, and then my commlink ruined it by beeping. Loudly.

I groaned and pulled it out of my pocket. “Director Nova speaking?”

“Director, we’re gonna need you to swing by the med-bay… some idiot dropped a box of munitions on his foot… it’s not looking too good.”

I sighed, dejectedly looking at the stream trickling by my feet. “I’ll be there in 10.”

“Thank you, Director. We’ll be waiting.” I clicked off the call and shoved my commlink back in my pocket, standing up.

I turned to Poe. “Well, duty calls. You gonna stay here?”

“Uhhh, yeah. I’ll embrace the calm a little longer before I get called back,” he said with a small smile.

I nodded. “See you around then, Poe.”

“Same to you, Hera.”

<>

By the time I headed to the cafeteria that evening, I was exhausted. The munitions box incident had turned out to be quiet a lot worse than I expected, and it had taken me two hours and the assistance of three medical droids and an apprentice doctor to effectively reorganize a smashed foot and invest in some artificial regrowth on the parts that were _far_ past recovery. It had occurred to me in the middle of the surgery that – even though I had been proclaimed to be the best doctor in the galaxy by the General – I could probably be even better if I had the might of the First Order supporting me… but I couldn’t stand for that.

The cafeteria was already in the swing of things when I walked in and Shana caught up to me the instant she saw me, walking with me to the line.

“Soooo, where did you go after the command meeting? Ojo told me he had to call you on the commlink to find you!”

“I, uh, went to the forest for a bit of peace and quiet.”

“Alone?”

“Yeah… isn’t that the meaning of peace and quiet? You do it alone?”

Shana stared at me. “Not always, H. And besides – you weren’t alone – a little birdie told me they saw you go down there with the Commander.”

I groaned, turning to her fully. “Which one? There’s more than one.”

“Which birdie? Or which Commander?”

I gave her a pointed look, stepping forward in the line.

She grinned. “Okay – _The_ Commander, Commander Dameron.”

I nodded. “Right, well, your little spy must’ve been seeing things, because I wasn’t –”

It was in that moment that my plans of getting out of this conversation, or indeed of never hearing about it again, went right out of the airlock – Poe arrived, looped his arm around my shoulders, and knocked me a little off balance, righting me immediately afterwards by pulling me further into him.

“How’d the munitions box injury go, Doc?”

I huffed. “Terribly. It went terribly.”

“I’m sorry to hear it, then,” he pulled his arm off of me, turning to better face me, “You wanna join me and some of the other pilots for dinner?”

Over his shoulder, I could see Shana silently laughing and mouthing _Do it!_ “Uh, sure, I guess, yeah. Might as well.”

“Sweet. I’ll introduce you to the squadrons – I think you’re gonna love Jessika and Karé. And Snap.” His eyes twinkled as he backed away, heading back to the boisterous table of pilots – something told me I’d be even more tired by the time I left.

Shana giggled as he walked away. “Something you want to tell me there, _Doc_?”

“Oh, kriff off.”


	5. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update today! I have too much time on my hands.

“Sooooo…. how’re you doing?”

“What do you want, Shana?”

She hummed, leaning over the ledge of the main desk of the med-bay to look at me, “I’m just concerned about your well-being, is all.”

I snorted, propping my feet up on the lower part of the desk. “You’ve been eyeing me all day today, Shana. What do you want?”

Shana huffed, frowning at me. “Alright then, O’ Smart One—” she giggled when I glared at her, “— I was wondering if you were doing okay, since you-know-who is off-base today. And maybe tomorrow. And was off-base yesterday.”

“You-know-who? Really, Shana?”

“Yes, really! Every time someone mentions the Commander—” I frowned, “—you make that face, like it physically pains you to hear his name, or something.”

“Shana, I’m fine, really.”

“You sure?”

I looked up at her. “Yes.”

“You sure you’re sure?”

I stood up, tossing my holopad on the desk. “Oh for stars sake – I’m not having this conversation here.” I stepped out from behind the desk and motioned for her to follow me into the supply room and once she did, I closed the door.

“I’m fine, Shana. I’m only a little bit worried about him. Just a bit.”

“He’s going to rescue C-3PO, the lone survivor of another mission. Everyone is a little worried.”

“Thank you for the reminder.”

“Well, may I also remind you that he’s made it out of tighter situations before?”

I snorted. “Well-timed delivery, but the sentiment is appreciated, I guess.”

“So, if you’re worried about him, does that mean I’m allowed to accuse you of liking him a little bit more than a friend should?”

“No,” I huffed, moving towards the door, “And I pretty sure that even if I did, he doesn’t.” I opened the door and stepped out.

“Ohh, H, he totally does. Have you seen the look he gets when he sees you? Acts like you’ve hung every star in the galaxy or something.”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“He does! And don’t walk away from me – this is your destiny!”

“Well, my destiny needs to re-evaluate then, because it’s not happening!”

She followed me into the med-bay hall and grabbed my arm to stop me. “Hera, please. The whole base can see it. Nira told me the General made a comment to him about it before he left—” I pulled my arm from her grip, “—don’t walk away from me!” And I walked away.

She groaned, running to catch up with me. “Hera – you two have been friendly since he spent all that time in the med-bay after that swamp planet incident, and you run off to that forest clearing together all the time – you eat dinner with him nearly every evening – its been two months of this! The base is gonna start making bets.”

I stopped in my tracks. “They wouldn’t.”

“They are! Ilia told me that Ojo told her that Snap and the rest of squadrons already have one going – and apparently the Commander knows about it!”

“Oh, stars.” I deflated. It was common knowledge in the Resistance that if bets got placed on base – wherever base was – people would make every effort to make their end of the deal happen. Like locking people in supply closets together, or in med-bay rooms, or calling them into the same room for completely untrue reasons – like clarifying mission reports – and the base always got its way… and the base was always right, too.

“Just tell me right now if you don’t like him – that you mean it – and I can try to tell them to stop… but if you do…”

I sighed, turning to her. “I do. I do like him, Shana. But both of us are committed to the Resistance; this is a war for stars sake! It would never work.”

“You could always try, maybe you’ll prove yourself wrong.”

“And if I didn’t, I’d lose a friend, Shana, and I can’t do that.”

“Fine. But I’m starting a betting pool tomorrow.” She turned on her heel and walked back to the main desk.

<>

I would’ve been lying if I’d said that I didn’t like him more than a friend should, and everything Shana had thrown at me in the hall of the med-bay had been true. We had been friends since his stint in the med-bay after the swamp planet mission, and we did go to the forest clearing together quite often to talk about life, and I did spent most dinners with Poe (and his squadrons, a detail that Shana conveniently omitted from her list of accusations), and we had been on D’Qar for a few months now – occupied with our new routine of hanging out when we had a free moment. And if I was being truly honest with myself, I’d admit that I tried not to think about our friendship too much in the beginning – tried to pretend he hadn’t weaseled his way into every daily routine I made – but that was a hard thing to admit.

And so, when Shana finished her lecture, I did my rounds and skipped dinner, opting instead to come to the forest clearing – alone, for the first time in months. Poe wasn’t supposed to be back until early tomorrow, but in the command meetings earlier today the General had made an off-handed comment about how there was a good chance he’d be back early – and I’d tried not to think about that all day, but I had. So, part of me wasn’t all that surprised when a familiar orange flight suit sat down next to me.

“You know, I was really expecting you to be in the cafeteria when I got back.”

I shrugged, glancing at him. “Thought I’d throw you for a loop then, I guess.”

“A little bit, yeah – but still, I was hoping you’d be there.”

I turned to him, noticing that he was holding his hands behind his back. I furrowed my brows, “Are you hiding something behind your back?”

“Uh, yes,” he shifted, “This—” he moved his hands from behind his back, a simple necklace with a polished stone charm hanging from between his fingers, “—is why I was kinda hoping you’d be in the cafeteria when I got back.”

I stared at the necklace, and then looked up at him. “Is that for me?”

“Yes?”

I nodded, looking back down at the necklace, and then back up at him – and then I launched myself into his arms, wrapping mine around his torso. “Thank you, Poe,” I mumbled into his flight suit, and I felt him laugh as he replied:

“Well, you’re welcome then.” He settled his arms around me, the necklace still in his hands. We sat like that for a few minutes – my head buried in his chest and his resting on top of mine. Eventually, though, I pulled away and gently picked up the necklace, holding it up in the fading daylight.

“So… how did you end up with this?”

Poe chuckled, taking the necklace back and motioning for me to turn around so he could put it around my neck. “It’s a long story – the short version is that I had a bit of spare time in a city market while I was, uh, _retrieving_ C-3PO.”

I smiled, twirling the stone charm in my fingers as I turned back to face him. “Sounds like you may have taken an unauthorized detour on your mission.”

“I may have done that,” he said coyly.

“Sounds like it could have been dangerous.”

“It may have been a _little_ dangerous.”

“Poe!”

“I’m still here, aren’t I?”

“Not the point!”


	6. Chapter Five

It was a week before I found myself in the Command Center again, and this time it was because of a late night, last minute message from the General. I’d already eaten dinner and was in my office poring over new recruit physicals to sign off on when my commlink went off.

“Director Nova speaking.”

“Director, this is General Organa. Come down to the Command Center for a moment… I have something I’ll need your help with.”

“Right away, General. Be there in 5.” I turned off the commlink and threw the physicals back onto my desk, heading out of the room and into the halls of the base.

In no time at all, I was stepping into the Command Center, which was nearly empty except for the night shift staff, the General, and… Poe. What a surprise.

“You called, General?”

“Yes. I’ve asked Commander Dameron here to select pilots and techs for a new squadron. They’ll be going on a few specific, special missions for me, and I want you to handle the transition approval physicals for all of them.”

“Um, sure. I’m sure I could get together a few nurses to—”

“I want you to handle all of the physicals by yourself.”

“I, uh – what?”

“Since this squadron is being formed for a very specific, highly classified purpose, I want you, alone, to handle the physicals. The Commander will provide you with a list of pilots and techs he’s tapped for this squadron, and I want you to pull them from their daily duties tomorrow to run the physicals,” the General paused, “Will you be able to finish it all by tomorrow evening?”

I stared at her. “Um, I think so, yes. But, General, if I had assistance, I could get it done earlier,” she gave me a look, “But if you insist—”

“I insist.”

“—then I’ll get it done.”

“Good,” she paused once more, surveying me, “And would you object to being the _only_ one in charge of their medical care if they get injured on a mission as a part of this squadron?”

I stole a glance at Poe, who was watching our exchange with restrained interest. I looked back to the General. “I don’t mind – my policy has always been that pilots are handled by the more senior medical staff anyways… so it wouldn’t be a terrible adjustment, I don’t think.”

The General nodded. “Good. Welcome to the Black Squadron then, Director.” And with that, she left the Command Center with a small bow of her head to Poe.

I turned to Poe. “Soooo… who’s on this list of yours?”

“Oh, you’re going straight to work already?” he teased, looking down at me.

“Yes, Poe. Physicals are incredibly time consuming, and pilots are notoriously uncooperative—” I gave him a look, and he shrugged, “—so the sooner I start, the better.”

“Fair enough. I’ll message it to you,” he said, reaching over to the holopad sitting on the table in front of him. He tapped a few spots on the screen, then looked up at me and smiled, spinning it around to face me, the _Message Delivered!_ screen flashing in my face. “All done!”

I snorted. “Thank you, Poe.” I made to head towards the exit, but stopped and turned towards him once more, “You’d better cooperate with me tomorrow, alright? And tell that to all your lovely pilots – I mean business.”

He laughed. “Will do, Director.”

I narrowed my eyes at him.

“I swear, we’ll be the best squadron that ever comes through your office.”

“You are all individually the worst pilots to come through my med-bay, so I find that _very_ hard to believe, Dameron.”

“Oh, come on!”

<>

The next day, I was in the med-bay an hour before I usually would be, holed up in my office comparing schedule after schedule – in an admittedly vain attempt to make my job easier. I huffed, throwing the last few bites of my decidedly unimpressive breakfast muffin in the compactor bin. I stood up, grabbed my holopad, and headed to the hangar. I’d decided last night that Dameron would be the first one through – I was hoping for some sort of scenario where he would set a good example for his squad mates – but I knew I was naïve to think such a thing would happen.

I knew it was shaping up to be a long day, too, the instant I stepped inside the hangar.

“Hey – Commander! – I bet she’s here for you!” Snap called across the hangar, a grin on his face, “Better run!”

“Snap! Ugh, just for that – you’re second!” I hurled a rubber gasket from the table closest to me at him, hitting him in the back of the head with a satisfying, light thud.

“Stars, woman! Poe, mate, it might be in your best interest to cooperate. She’s on the warpath today.” He called out, picking up the gasket and waving it above his head so the rest of the hangar could see it. “She threw a gasket at my head!”

Poe stood up from his spot under the _Black One_ and ambled over to me, BB-8 on his heels. “A gasket, huh?” he said with a grin.

“A _rubber_ gasket. He’s being overdramatic.”

“Sounds like him,” he grabbed a rag off the bench by the hangar door, wiping oil off of his hands, “So, I’m up first then?”

“Yes, you are,” I said, turning to leave, “Follow me, would you?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

As we walked through the halls on the way back to the med-bay, he turned to look at me, a funny look on his face.

I glanced at him. “Something the matter?”

“No, no. I just—well,” he paused, “I just wanted to say thank you. For doing this.” He gestured vaguely around us.

“It’s kinda my job, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but you didn’t have to. You could’ve just as easily said no to the General.”

I snorted. “The only people who say no to the General are people who don’t have their heads screwed on right, Poe,” I sighed, “And besides, this gives me a chance to hang out with some of my favorite people on base while silently judging them on their health choices.”

He laughed, his eye twinkling. “You don’t actually do that, do you?”

“No, I’m just teasing. Ojo does, though. Rants about everyone on base whenever he comes in my office for something.”

He nodded, and we turned the final corner and entered the med-bay. I guided him to the first room, which was set up for physicals and other short examinations.

“I’ve screwed up my whole med-bay schedule for this, so please don’t make it difficult.”

He smiled, “Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it, Doc.”

I snorted, sitting my holopad down on the table by the door. “Those are famous last words right there, Poe.” I walked over to him. “I’m going to do all the easy stuff first, and then we’ll move on to the more complicated parts.” He bobbed his head in acknowledgment.

“So, that means I’m going to need you to undo this top part of your coveralls.”

“Ohhh, I see how it is. Right away then, Doc.”

I shook my head and turned to grab the things I’d need for the first part of the exam while he fiddled with the coveralls. Something told me last night’s promises weren’t going to turn out entirely true.

<>

It was a long day, filled by frustrating pilots. After Poe, I’d had to track down Snap (who’d conveniently hidden from me, so I made Poe find him), and then it was L’ulo L’ampar – who was the only cooperative patient of the day – and then Karé Kun, and then Oddy, and then Jessika – who’d cracked jokes the entire time and thus made it difficult to do my job. Despite all that, though, I managed to finish everything just in time for dinner. I sent the transition approvals to the General via holopad, and I opted not to spend dinner with the pilots. Instead, I spent dinner with Shana, Ilia, Ojo, and Nira – which was not entirely the change of pace I had been hoping for.

“So, did you have fun today?”

“Nope. Pilots are terrible.”

“Even Commander Dameron?”

I glared at Shana. “Not as much, but yes, even Commander Dameron.”

Shana hummed, turning to Ilia to ask her a question about work today. I listened for a moment, before my mind drifted away, and I found myself staring at the other side of the cafeteria where Poe sat amongst his squadrons. He was laughing at something, his eyes crinkling up in the corners and his whole body shaking. He looked so happy, and I suddenly felt very glad that I knew him at all. My fingers absent-mindedly reached up to fiddle with the stone charm on the necklace he’d given me when – as if he knew I was thinking about him – Poe glanced towards me, making eye contact. He smiled, and my heart fluttered as I smiled back. He reached up to his neck, mimicking my fiddling with the necklace, and winked. I blushed and looked back down at the dinner sitting in front of me.

When I looked back up, he was already occupied by his pilots once more, and I frowned to myself, tuning back into my friends’ conversation. Nira, however, must’ve noticed something had happened, because she made a face and me and asked:

“You good, Hera?”

I snapped out of my trance. “What?”

“I asked, are you okay, Hera?”

“Oh, uh, yea. Just lost in thought.”

“About that Commander of hers, probably.” Shana chimed in.

“He’s not _my_ Commander, Shana.”

“You didn’t deny you were thinking about him, though.” Nira giggled.

I groaned, standing up. “The lot of you are absolutely terrible.”

“Oh, come on, Hera. Where are you going?”

“I’m kinda tired – it was a busy day today. I’m just going to my quarters.”

Shana looked skeptical. “Well, have a good sleep then.”

I nodded. “Same to you all.”

I threw out the rest of my dinner and walked out of the cafeteria. I thought I was home free when I made it all the way out without anyone calling my name – but I wasn’t.

“Hey, Hera!”

I stopped, turning slowly to face the familiar voice.

“Where are you going?” Poe asked, a shadow of concern in his eyes.

“Oh, uh, just my quarters – I’m a bit tired.”

He nodded. “Well, d’you want me to walk with you?”

“If you feel so inclined.”

He smiled, and slung his arm around my shoulder, guiding us down the hall. “Wonderful!”

I shook my head. “You’re way too happy at this hour.”

He shrugged, his thumb gently running back and forth over my shoulder. “Gotta make sure my favorite doctor stays cheery all the time.”

“Your favorite doctor?”

“Yep. My favorite doctor.”

“You hate being in the med-bay though.”

“ _But_ I love being with you, so. Favorite doctor.”

“Ever the charmer, aren’t you?”

“Guilty as charged.”

I smiled to myself as we walked down the hall. I liked where this was going.


	7. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor sad moment in this one - then some happy stuff. The usual suspects.

Two days after they completed their physicals, the Black Squadron left for their first ever highly-classified mission – to Ovanis. The location was the only thing I knew about the operation, and that was only because I’d told the General I wanted to be fully prepared for any planet-induced injuries as well as combat-induced injuries, should the need arise. She’d reluctantly caved, and I’d victoriously marched back to the med-bay to do research.

They left the morning after the meeting, just as daylight was arriving on D’Qar. I stood with the General to wave farewell, and when the X-wings were finally out of sight, she turned to me with a knowing smile.

“You’re quite fond of the Commander, aren’t you, Director?”

“I, uh, I don’t—”

“There’s no sense in denying it. If I’ve learned anything in all my years in the galaxy, its that you shouldn’t let love slip away – don’t be afraid of anything with beautiful potential, Director.” She turned away from me, walking back into the main building of the base. I stared, open-mouthed, at her retreating figure. Love? I wouldn’t be so bold as to call what I felt _love_. I shrugged and followed her steps into the base. I had to work to do and standing on the tarmac all day wasn’t it.

When I reached the med-bay, I found myself pulled back into the swing of things, with hardly a moment to worry about the Black Squadron and their current mission. I stitched two cuts, advised a mechanic on what to do the next time they get grease in their eye, and helped Ilia with a physical for a cadet before Shana dragged me away to lunch.

“So, where’d the Commander go?” she asked as we sat down with our trays.

“On a classified mission for the General with his new squadron.”

“What kind of classified mission?”

I sighed, staring hard at my sandwich for a moment before looking up. “That’s need-to-know, and I didn’t need-to-know, apparently.”

“Ah. You worried about him?”

“Just a pinch.”

But I’d spoken to soon, because it was in that very instant that the General called me on my commlink.

“Director Nova speaking.”

“Director, I need you to come to the Command Center immediately.”

My heart sunk, “I’ll be right there, General.” I slid my tray towards Shana. “How about you eat this for me?”

She shook her head. “I’ll pack it up and find you later, alright. You gotta eat even if Poe isn’t on base.”

“Shana, that’s not even why I wasn’t gonna—” I groaned, “Just message me when you’re done, and I’ll come find you.” I waved and walked away.

“You’d better, H!” she yelled after me.

By the time I reached the Command Center, I was sure my stomach had tied itself in a billion knots. I was afraid of what the General would tell me when I got there, and part of me didn’t even want to know what it was. So, when I got there, I stopped outside the door and took a deep breath, and then stepped in.

I wish I never had, though, because the look on the General’s face was enough to commit all my fears to reality. I swallowed hard and walked up to her.

I bowed my head in acknowledgement, “General.”

“Director,” she paused, as if she was afraid of the words she’d be saying next, “Command and the squadron have lost contact with Black Leader.”

My blood went cold. We couldn’t lose him… I couldn’t lose him.

“It should only be temporary though – we’re under the impression the issue was caused by a planetary formation of some sort on the surface of Ovanis, but I needed to make sure that you were aware of this, in case your medical expertise is required when they _all_ return.”

I nodded, but her words did little to remediate my fears.

“Hera,” I snapped my head up to look at her, “Take a moment if you need one, but I have my full confidence in the Commander and his squadron’s ability to successfully complete this mission with no casualties. Poe will be fine.”

I nodded again. “Thank you, General.” She nodded and turned back to the holotable in the center of the room. I turned on my heel and left. I knew where I wanted to go – and it wasn’t to go fetch my abandoned lunch from Shana.

<>

I sat in the forest clearing for several hours, staring at the water of the stream as it flowed by my feet. It was calm here, and the anxiety that coursed through the base seemed to evaporate inside this clearing – which was something I greatly appreciated right now.

For a moment, I felt peace, but that was short-lived as I heard the familiar sound of X-wings entering the atmosphere – and then saw them fly over my head, the familiar black and orange _Black One_ leading the charge. I smiled, which quickly turned into a fit of helpless laughter. I stood up and ran towards the path back to the tarmac, just as my commlink buzzed. The caller didn’t wait for me to speak once I picked up – they just cut straight to business.

“Director, the Black Squadron is returning. Your medical expertise may be required.”

I ran faster down the path, glad in this moment for the yearly physical training the medical staff were forced to endure for our own “safety and protection.” I made it to the tarmac just as the X-wings touched down – a miracle in and of itself, seeing as they had the head start and the advantage – and stopped only when I made it to where the emergency medical team stood. Shana threw me a look, and I mouthed an apology.

The noise on the tarmac lessened slowly as ship after ship powered down, and soon it was back to its usual low hum of activity. The pilots all disembarked on their own, and I nodded to the medical team – everyone looked okay, but I still wanted to wrangle them into my med-bay to make sure myself. With that, I turned and headed toward the med-bay – I trusted my staff to bring them to the med-bay without me – and besides, I needed a moment to collect myself before I saw any of them.

When they arrived in the med-bay, I was waiting for them in the first exam room – gloves on and bandages and bacta patches at the ready. The first one who reached me was L’ampar, and he was fine, with the exception of small scratch on his chin. Then came Jessika and Karé, both nearly unscathed, and then Snap and Oddy, with weak concussions they seemed unwilling to explain to me. The last one in was Poe – considerably more banged up than his fellow pilots. I frowned at him when he walked in, immediately reaching for the cut on his temple.

“Well, hello to you to, Doc.”

“What exactly happened to you that didn’t seem to happen to anyone else?” I asked, turning around to grab supplies – and so he wouldn’t see my chin tremor as I asked. _He is fine,_ I told myself, to no avail. I turned back around as he began to answer.

“Uh, just a little hand-to-hand combat. Nothing too major.”

I nodded, concentrating on disinfecting the cut – it was weirdly the only significant one on his whole face. He winced.

“Sorry, should’ve warned you it would sting a bit.” I muttered, grabbing my materials for the few stitches the cut would need.

“It’s alright, I can barely feel it.” He grinned, which faded slowly when I didn’t smile back. He quirked his eyebrows in confusion.

“You good?”

“I’m fine – could you stop moving your face, though? Makes my job difficult.”

“Uh, sure.”

I nodded, quietly beginning my stitching.

A minute later I was done. I applied a small bacta patch, my hands shaking as I gently pressed it into place on his temple. He frowned and his hands reached up to hold my wrists, bringing them down between us. He gingerly pulled my gloves off and placed them on the table next to us with the other used supplies and laced his fingers with mine.

“What’s up with you today, Hera?”

I bit my lip. “Nothing, I was just worried, that’s all.”

“Well, I’m all good now – you’ve made sure of it,” he gave me a small smile, his thumb running over my hand.

“I know, I just – I can’t help but worry about you.” My eyes burned, and I willed myself not to cry. _He is fine_ , I repeated in my head over and over. _He’s fine, he’s fine, he’s fine_. My eyes still burned.

He let go of my hands and reached up to hold my face, “This okay?”

I nodded lamely, a tear falling out of my eye. His thumb brushed across my cheek and caught it, wiping it away.

“That’s not the whole problem, though, is it?”

I nodded again, swallowing hard. “I – When the General told me they’d lost contact with you,” I took a deep breath, “I just, I realized that I, I—” I squeezed my eyes closed, “that I like you more than a friend should.” I opened my eyes to peek at him, afraid of his reaction, and found myself surprised by the huge grin on his face. He pulled me into his chest, wrapping his arms around me. He smelled like the forest and engine oil and blaster fire – and I burrowed into his chest a little more. He pressed a small kiss to my hairline, and whispered into my ear:

“Well, I like you more than a friend should, too.”

I grinned into his flight suit and squeezed my arms around him. He winced, and I pulled away.

“Where else are you hurt?” I asked, pulling on another pair of gloves.

“I think I’ve just got a big bruise over my ribs, is all.”

“Undo the top bit of you flight suit anyways – let’s make sure it’s nothing serious.”

He nodded, a coy grin on his face as he undid the flight suit – and revealed a rather nasty bruise on his side, right above his ribs.

I frowned, gently touching it. He winced.

I grabbed some bacta cream, “This might hurt a bit for me to put on, sorry.” I applied it as carefully as I could, but he still grimaced as I worked.

When I was done, I cleaned up the mess I’d made and threw my gloves into the compactor bin before turning back to him. “You’re all good to go now, Poe.”

He hummed in acknowledgement. “I think I might just stay here with you for a bit, first.”

I laughed. “Well, at least go get changed if you’re going hang out with me in the med-bay for the rest of the day.”

He nodded and stood up, walking over to me. He put his hands on my waist, staring at me for a second, and then his eyes darted down to my lips and back up to meet mine.

“May I?”

I nodded, and he leaned forward, pressing his lips to mine and leaning into me. His grip on my waist tightened and I threaded my fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck.

A moment later, he pulled away – breathless just like me – and grinned. “I think that was a long time coming.”

I snorted, “Maybe just a little bit.”


	8. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay you guys! Meant to have this up a bit ago but my school's G-suite kinda screwed up Chrome for a bit so there's that. And I waffled over whether or not to reaaally write out the last bit or not, and then I didn't. Anyways, I allude to sexy times, and I'm justifying it with the fact that they've been friends for a bit so my timeline isn't tooooo unrealistic. Anyways, hope you enjoy! And have a good day - especially with everything that's been going on.

It had been a half a week since Ovanis, and half a week since my med-bay breakdown and kiss with Poe. I’d only seen him twice since then, as the General was keeping him very busy with Black Squadron business that I was not on the need-to-know list for – despite being of equivalent rank with the Commander or General (depending on who you asked), and despite being a de facto member of the Black Squadron entourage.

Right now, though, I was regretting many of the life decisions I’d made up to this point – entirely because I had been convinced to join Shana in her room for a sleepover. A preposterous idea, really, but she’d insisted from the moment she heard I’d kissed Poe, and apparently wanted all the details. I have neglected to inform her that we have kissed several times since then, purely to avoid further interrogation.

And so, I was sitting on a blanket, on the hard floor of her room, with my regulation pillow in my lap, listening to her and Ilia gossip about the other hot new relationship on base – Snap and Karé.

“Oh—and did you hear? He took her up in his X-wing and they had a picnic on the other side of base,” Shana turned to be, “Does Poe do that?”

I stared at her. “They are literally _both_ pilots.”

“But, does Poe do that?”

“I have seen him twice this week, Shana. He’s busy.”

“Yea, but would he?” Ilia chimed in.

I huffed. “I am not a pilot – he shouldn’t.”

“But would he?”

“Oh, for _stars_ sake – ask him _yourself_ why don’t you?”

“To your point – he’s been busy, so I can’t.”

I stared at them in disbelief. “Alright, that’s it. I’m leaving.” I stood up, hugging my pillow to my chest and grabbing the blanket I had been sitting on and heading for the door.

“Oh, come on, there’s no need for that, Hera.”

I opened the door.

“Hera! You promised.”

I huffed and turned to look at them. “This time next week. No questions about Poe, or I’m leaving again.”

Shana and Ilia sighed. “Fine. But you’d better do it.”

I nodded and stepped out of the room – and straight into someone’s chest. The door behind me closed.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see—” I paused when I looked up, right into Poe’s face.

He grinned. “Apology accepted, Doc,” he glanced down at the pillow and blanket and my arms, “What’re those for?”

I sighed. “A failed sleepover.”

He hummed, wrapping his arm around my waist and guiding me down the hall. “Wanna join me for a successful sleepover? My quarters?”

“So, you’re not going to judge me for the sleepover thing?”

“I literally just asked you to do another one, Hera.”

“Right. Well, I dunno if—”

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re gonna say no to me now – I was getting all excited.”

I huffed, looking over to him. He was smiling. “Well, I—”

“Please?” he paused, “Although, if you really don’t want to—”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“I’ll join you for your silly sleepover.”

He laughed, stopping in front of the door I presumed to be his. He punched in the code, and the door opened, revealing BB-8 in the middle of room.

Poe let go of me and stepped inside, kneeling in the floor in front of his droid to greet him. I stood awkwardly in the doorway, unsure of what to do.

He glanced at me. “Well, don’t just stand there—make yourself at home.” He stood up, guiding BB-8 to his charging station and helping him get situated.

Quietly, I dumped my blanket and pillow on the end of his bed and plopped down next to them, watching Poe as he fished things out of his drawers and disappeared into the refresher. A minute later, he stuck his head out, gesturing behind him:

“You need anything from in here?”

I shook my head.

“Alrighty – I’ll just be a minute, sweetheart.”

I nodded, blushing at the nickname, and laid back on the mattress to stare at the ceiling. His room was covered in trinkets and papers and knick-knacks and posters. His desk chair had a colored blanket on it, and more blankets were stacked on top of the dresser. The mirror had beads and charms and necklaces strung all over it, and medallions had been hung up on the peg next to it. My quarters, compared to his, was rather plain – there wasn’t any particular reason for me to keep around trinkets or things from my early childhood on Taris or school years on Hosnian Prime. My father spent all of his time in the Senate, so I never had the childhood adventures that Poe’s room seemed to innately imply. I was pulled out of my thoughts, though, when he emerged from the refresher, dressed for sleep.

“Whatcha thinking?” he asked as he walked towards me.

“Just admiring the room.”

He nodded, laying down next to me on his side, his head propped on his arm. “Anything in particular you like?”

“The colors.”

He laughed at that, glancing around his room. “I guess there’s a lot of them. I presume your room doesn’t look like this then?”

I snorted. “Nope. I’ve got Tarisian purple stuff from my dad and his senatorial stints, some stuff from the Medical Academy on Hosnian, a few things here and there from friends over the years. It’s kinda monochrome in there, to be honest. I never saw the point in having so much stuff, I guess.”

He nodded. “So, a Senator’s daughter, huh?”

“Yep. That’s how I met the General for the first time, actually.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I was probably five or six, maybe, and she came through the Senate to speak with everyone, and she’d brought her son with her, too. She’d said something about how this was the last time she’d have him around for a while, I think. Anyways, fond memories. My dad really liked her, back then.”

“Liked?”

“He’s not so fond of the Resistance. Or the First Order, really.”

Poe hummed in acknowledgement. “So, the General has a son?”

I shrugged. “I dunno, he was probably eight or nine when we met. Seemed nice… a little shy. Not sure what happened to him, though. Never saw him again after that.”

Poe nodded. “Well, enough talk. What d’you wanna do to pass the time?”

“Uh, I don’t know. You have any ideas?”

He pushed himself up, configuring our bodies so that he was holding himself above me. “I have a few ideas,” he said with a smirk.

“Am I going to like these ideas?”

“Oh, I don’t know. You might.” He leaned down over me a little bit, pecking my nose and pulling back up again.

“Was this your plan all along?”

He shook his head, “No, actually. Thought of it while you were going on about the rooms.”

I nodded. “Well… I guess I’m not opposed.”

He smiled, eyes shimmering with that look again. “Wonderful. Better get to it then.” He leaned down, pressing his lips to mine. His left hand drifted down my side, to rest on my hip bone, and he shifted a little, bracing his knees on either side of my legs. I smiled against his lips, and he pulled away slowly, pupils blown wide.

“You sure?” he muttered, his mouth inches from mine.

“Oh, I’m sure, _sweetheart_.”

He grinned.


	9. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writer's block and 6 AP classes is apparently not a good combo but here I am anyways. Took me an ungodly amount of time to write this and I deleted and rewrote half of it at some point so there's that. This was honestly more of a filler chapter.

I spent the earlier part of the day in the med-bay, and after lunch I followed Nira to the hangar to watch her do mechanic things with X-wings. It was soothing and methodical, much like a well-done surgery, and she even bothered to tell me what she was doing and what every tool and part was. It was calm for a while, and then the familiar noise of X-wings filled the air and the Black Squadron came in for their landing. I watched, mesmerized, as the ships powered down and Poe climbed out of the cockpit of _Black One_. He bent down to speak with BB-8, and then the dedicated little droid disappeared off to do something I could only presume was important. Poe noticed me sitting on one of the crates by Nira and raised his eyebrows at me.

I waved, hopping off the crate. “Hey, Commander!”

He laughed, his smile not quite reaching his eyes for some reason, and he walked over to me. “Hello, _Director_.”

I smiled at him, reaching out to hold his hand.

He smirked. “I feel so special… you’re holding my hand.”

I snorted. “How was the mission, flyboy?”

“Eventful.”

“You’re not giving me anything else?”

“Nope. Classified.”

I nodded and began leading us towards the med-bay, since I should probably be there again soon anyway.

“Wait, wait,” he tugged gently on my arm, stopping me.

I turned to face him, my eyebrow raised. He leaned forward and smushed his lips against mine, his other arm wrapping around my waist. My free hand wandered up to the nape of his neck, my lips parting just a little bit. After a moment, he pulled away, a little breathless, and let go of me, reaching up to push a stray hair out of my face.

“I gotta go do the debrief with the General, but I’ll come find you around dinner-time, alright?”

I smiled and nodded, walking backwards a bit. “See you soon, then, Poe.” I turned around and continued to the med-bay.

<>

My time spend in the med-bay flew by as I made my rounds and fussed with transfer paperwork on my holopad, and before I knew it, Poe was waltzing in to drag me to dinner.

He leaned over the high counter of the main desk and looked at me. “Ready for dinner, Doc?”

I looked up at him from my place curled up in the chair behind the desk. “Yea, yea, just let me put this down in my office.” I stood up and wandered over to my office, dropping the holopad on my desk before turning around and running straight into Poe’s chest. He’d followed me in, apparently.

He wrapped his arms around me, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “You’re my favorite person, you know that, right?”

I nodded into his chest, pulling my head away to look up at him. “What prompted that?”

Something passes behind his eyes, but he just shrugs. “No reason, just felt like it.”

I hummed, skeptical, and tried to extricate myself from his hold, but his grip wouldn’t budge.

“Poe?”

“Yes?”

“Can you let go of me now?”

He frowned, but did so, opting to loop one arm around my waist to guide me to the cafeteria. I leaned into his side a little as we walked out of the med-bay and through the halls of the base. I could tell something was bugging him just a little bit, but I decided to press him about it later – after we ate.

When we arrived in the cafeteria, we waited in line together and got our meals, and I waved to Shana and Ilia as we walked by them. I opted to sit with Poe and his pilots, since he still seemed awfully attached to me. Through all of dinner, he kept an arm around me or a hand in my lap, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what exactly was wrong. When I raised my eyebrows inquisitively at Jessika, she shrugged – as did Snap and L’ulo. I sighed, and I as soon as I noticed Poe was done eating, I gently pulled him out of the cafeteria with me, stopping when we got to a more secluded hallway.

I reached up, my hand cupping his cheek and my thumb gently swiping across the top of his cheek. “What’s up with you today, Poe?”

He shrugged noncommittally. “Just a bad day.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“I just want to spend time with you.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really,” he paused, his hand covering mine on his cheek, “I just want to hear you talk.”

I laughed quietly. “Why don’t we stop by your quarters and grab some of your things and then head back to mine?”

Poe nodded reluctantly, pulling me to follow him. When we reached his quarters, he disappeared inside before reappearing with a change of clothes in his arms a minute later. He followed behind me as I led the way to my quarters and stood awkwardly in the middle of the room when we arrived, until I gently guided him to the edge of my bed.

“Let’s get changed, yeah? And then we can lay down and I’ll talk for a bit.” He nodded, and a few minutes later I found myself propped against my pillows on my bed with Poe’s head laying my stomach and his body slotted between my legs. Slowly, I threaded my fingers through his hair and gently massaged his scalp.

“So, what do you want to hear about?”

He grunted, lifting his head up just a bit. “Your whole life story.”

I giggled. “Ask and you shall receive, flyboy.” He dropped his head back on my stomach with a smile.

I stared at the ceiling for a minute, trying to figure out where I wanted to start.

“Well, I was born in 8 ABY on Taris, in the inner city, and—”

Poe lifted his head up for a moment. “I’m six years older than you?”

“Yeah. Anyway—”

“That doesn’t bother you?”

“Uh, should it?”

Poe shook his head and laid back down on my stomach.

“Anyway, grew up in the inner-city skyscrapers, came to Senate meetings with my dad all the time, uh… oh! I have an older brother – he’s taking my dad’s seat in the Senate in the next cycle I think,” I twirled a strand of Poe’s hair through my fingers before continuing, “Uh, my dad’s name is Alrich, although you might’ve already known that, and my brother’s is Armand, my mom’s was Leta.”

“Was?”

“She was killed in the Talinn district when I was growing up, which is why I spent so much time with my brother and father.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, muffled by my stomach.

I hummed. “It’s alright… it’s been a while since then. I decided I wanted to be a doctor after that, and Dad was more than happy to ship me off to the New Republic Medical Academy on Hosnian Prime,” I shifted my shoulders, getting a little more comfortable, “And when I left the Academy, the General tapped me to work for the Resistance, so I got here about a year and a half, maybe, before you. It’s good experience, working in the Resistance. And I know I’m making a difference in the galaxy, doing my mom proud and all that.” I looked down at Poe and noticed his eyes were closed, his breathing slow and measured.

I smiled. “Goodnight, flyboy.” I gently pressed a kiss to his temple and turned off the light in my room. Time to sleep.


	10. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took me a while to do this because I lost a pinch of motivation and my teachers decided to throw all the virtual work at me at once. I also have a stupid research paper to do. Anyways, chapter's done, and I'm working on another fic (Kylo Ren/Reader, whoop whoop) that will hopefully be posted soon. I'm aiming for longer chapters and a smidge of canon compliance for it, and I imagine that this fic will move to an approximately once a week posting schedule for now. I hope you are all doing well in these unorthodox times.

A week later found me in the med-bay, no surprises. Poe was once again gone on a mission, this time to Pheryon to meet with some reporter type lady about information she might have on the First Order. I still wasn’t sure exactly why Poe had to be the one to meet her – since Snap or any other member of his squadron was more than capable. The General had answered that question with something along the lines of Poe being a charismatic poster-boy and the most suitable man for the job, and then I’d politely been told to leave the Command Center to do my own job.

I didn’t _really_ mind Poe diving headfirst into danger yet again, since that’s more-or-less become his M.O. in all the time he’s been with the Resistance, and even before then. But I still worried about him – I couldn’t help it.

So, I wasn’t surprised when Shana waved her hand in front of my face for the fifth time today to get my attention, but I was surprised when she smacked the back of my head with her hand.

“What was that for?!”

“You zoned out again, H,” she huffed, “You need to stop doing that.”

“I know – I’m just worried.”

“I feel like we’ve been through this before, H. He’ll be fine.”

I hummed, standing up. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, alright.”

Shana nodded. “Ready to do some stitching?”

“He’s ready?”

“Yep. Cleaned everything up so it’s time to do the stitches… I figured you’d want to do it to keep your mind occupied.”

“You figured right.”

Shana smiled, and I followed her into the exam room and pulled on some gloves.

<>

It was a few days later when Poe arrived back on base, with the reporter in tow. I was called away from the med-bay when he arrived so that I could attend the debriefing in the Command Center. I’d been told to bring some basic emergency medical supplies and an assistant to the debriefing, which worried me slightly, but I pushed that down as I walked to the Command Center with Shana by my side.

When we walked in, it became apparent why I’d been told to come at all – both Poe and the reporter he’d brought with him were a little worse for the wear. I made a beeline for them, pulling on gloves and mentally categorizing the injuries I could see and how I could best treat them with my limited supplies.

I was interrupted, however, by General Organa. “Will you need them to wait to speak until you’re done, Director?”

“No, General. They can talk and I can work at the same time.” The General nodded toward Poe and the reporter, and I set to work on Poe while Shana worked with the reporter.

My eavesdropping soon discovered that this reporter was Suralinda Javos, of the _Galaxy Beacon_. Apparently, she was writing on Galactic Concordance violations made by the First Order, and apparently both her and Poe had been temporarily captured by some stormtroopers – which explained the minor injuries all over them.

By the time the debriefing was over, Shana and I had finished most of the minor things and some of the more obvious major things, but we still dragged both of them back to the med-bay to make sure we hadn’t missed anything.

Unfortunately, Shana had to help one of the other doctors with another patient, so I was left handling both of them, which I didn’t mind at all.

I started with Poe, and I methodically worked through his laundry list of issues and my own personal checklist. At some point, he broke the silence that I’m sure some would’ve labelled as awkward. I did not.

“So, you’re not made at me?”

I glance up at him. “What for?”

“Getting temporarily captured by First Order forces?”

I sighed, stopping what I was doing and looking him in the eyes. Worry flickered in them, an unusual sight. “I can’t get mad at you for getting captured… you can’t _really_ control that. I can get worried for you, though – which I am.”

He nodded reluctantly. “You sure?”

I smiled and shook my head. “If you keep asking about it I will be.”

He laughed, and then winced. I noticed Suralinda stifling a giggle out of the corner of my eye.

I finished up the last small bandage on Poe and gently tapped his shoulder. “You’re all good to go now, Poe.”

“Would it be alright if I stayed here ‘til you’re done?”

I shrugged, heading towards Suralinda to finish checking her over. “I won’t stop you.”

Poe stayed in his place, watching as I gently examined a few bruises on Suralinda’s arm and began putting bacta cream on them. She inhaled a sharp breath, making a quiet noise of discomfort.

“Sorry,” I said, grimacing as I continued, “This should be the last one, though, if that’s any consolation.”

She huffed a small laugh. “Just a little.”

I did a quick once-over of her torso with a scanner and found no interior injuries, so I gave her the all clear.

“You’re all good to go now as well… I presume the General will want to see you again since it seems like you may be joining us permanently?”

“Yeah. Thanks for taking care of all this.” She gestured vaguely at herself.

I smiled. “It’s my job – wouldn’t have it any other way.”

She nodded and made her way out of the exam room. I cleaned up all my supplies and pulled off my gloves, tossing them in the compactor bin, before turning to face Poe.

“Any particular reason you wanted to stick around?”

“Is it a crime to want to see your face sometimes?”

I laughed, pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead. “No, no it’s not.”

He hummed, “That’s what I thought.” Carefully, he looped his arms around my waist and pulled me into his chest – it was a bit of an awkward angle, though, that required a bit of adjusting. We stood there for a minute before I pulled away carefully.

“Well, I need to make some rounds soon, so I’ll see you ‘round dinner time, maybe?”

“Actually, I uh, have a question for you.”

I turned back towards him, my eyebrow raised in question. “Yeah?”

“Would you,” he paused, his eyes searching my face, “Would you want to move in with me?”

“Your quarters are smaller than mine, Poe.”

“Can I move in with you, then?”

I let out a small laugh, “Yes, you can.” I walked back over to him and leaned forward, pressing my lips to his. I intended to pull away after a moment, but he held me in place. His thumb grazed the spot above my hip that was a little ticklish, and he took full advantage of my lips parting inadvertently. A moment later, he let go and we pulled apart, breathless.

“You can just _do that_ , Poe! I have to go work now!”

He sent me a cheeky grin. “I’ll see you at dinner, _roomie_.” And then he got up and left me standing in the exam room, a little stunned and a smidge turned on. Damnit, Poe.


End file.
